


In the Right Place at the Right Time

by jdale



Series: Pegasus University Chronicles [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Hazing, Police Officer Jack O'Neill, RA John Sheppard, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 06:32:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17844236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdale/pseuds/jdale
Summary: Had you told him at the start of the year he would be thanking one of his residents for locking himself out at 2A.M., John Sheppard would have laughed fordays.





	In the Right Place at the Right Time

It was coincidence and sheer dumb luck that he’d had the master key ring with him. McKay had locked himself out at about 1:55, and since he was on the sixth floor, Sheppard decided it would be more efficient to make his 2 A.M. rounds from the top of the hall down and put the keys away when he was finished.

When he entered the north wing of the third floor, he heard a faint voice that sounded like it was coming from around the bend in the corridor. “No talking.”

“I certainly didn’t expect to be woken up blindfolded at 1:30 in the morning and frog-marched—” With alarm, John recognized the second voice as that of his physics lab partner, Elizabeth Weir.

“She _said_ no talking!” a third voice hissed. John quickened his pace as a growing sense of dread ran down his spine.

“Look, if this is what it takes, I want out,” Elizabeth pleaded.

As he rounded the corner, the first voice spoke again. “It’s too late for that. Now open wide.”

John’s heart dropped into his stomach when he was finally able to identify the voice as belonging to Paula Butler, president of one of the two sororities on campus that were too small to merit a house. He ran the remaining length of the corridor and came to a stop in front of Butler’s door, reaching into his pocket for the key ring.

_BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!_ “Residence Life! Everything okay in there?” he called, his left hand frantically searching for the correct key while the right knocked.

“Hel—” Elizabeth’s cry was cut off and replaced with an indistinct gurgling noise.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Butler told him.

_BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!_ “Residence Life! Open up!”

“I _said_ we’re fine!” Butler shouted back.

“Come on, dammit,” John muttered to himself as he continued to fumble with the key ring. Finally finding the correct key, he jammed it in the lock and threw open the door, expecting the worst yet still not entirely prepared for the sight that greeted him.

Elizabeth had been stripped to her underclothes, blindfolded, and tied spread-eagle to the bedposts, suspending her body about a foot above the mattress. Butler was using a funnel to pour beer into one end of a plastic hose, the other end of which was being held in Elizabeth’s mouth by Butler’s roommate and sorority sister, Claire Sutcliffe.

Immediately John rushed forward and ripped the non-funnel end of the hose out of Elizabeth’s mouth, spraying Sutcliffe with what beer was still in the hose as a result. This allowed Elizabeth to turn her head to the side and spit out a mouthful of beer, which caught Butler square in the chest.

“Don’t even think about it,” John warned when he saw Sutcliffe eyeing the door. With a resigned sigh, she dropped into a chair. Satisfied that neither she nor Butler would be attempting to flee, he withdrew his cell phone and pressed number 4 on the speed-dial.

_“Pegasus UPD. Go ahead.”_

“Yeah, this is John Sheppard, I’m an RA in Atlantis Hall. We have an alcohol violation in room 326, situation appears this is likely also a hazing incident.”

_“Understood. We’ll send an officer over. You said Atlantis Hall?”_

“That’s right, Atlantis Hall, room three-two-six. That’s third floor, north wing.”

_“Understood. An officer will be there shortly. Thank you.”_

John put his cell phone away and turned back to face Elizabeth, willing his eyes to stay above her chin as he removed her blindfold.

“Thank you, John,” she told him.

“Don’t mention it,” John replied. “I’d have done the same for anyone.”

“I know, but still, thank you,” Elizabeth repeated.

“Alright, you want me to untie your arms or your legs first?” he asked.

“Arms,” she requested.

To John’s consternation, one of the two sorority girls was quite adept at tying knots, which considerably slowed his progress. He had managed to free both arms and was working on her right leg when the police officer arrived.

“Need a hand there?” the officer, whose name tag read O’Neill, asked.

John nodded. “Please.”

O’Neill went to work on the ropes binding Elizabeth’s left leg while John continued to struggle with those on her right leg, and they soon had both sets released.

“Alright, now what happened here?” O’Neill asked.

“What _happened_ is _he_ ,” Butler jabbed an accusing finger at John, “interrupted this pledge’s initiation!”

“They tied me up and forced me to drink against my will,” Elizabeth protested weakly.

Sutcliffe gave a derisive snort. “No one forced you to sign the pledge sheet, and if you _somehow_ didn’t know what was involved in initiation, which I highly doubt, that’s your own damn fault.”

“Yeah, yeah, tell it to the judge,” O’Neill said, standing up Sutcliffe and Butler and herding them into the hall. As he passed John, he leaned over and whispered, “I’ll be back for your statements when I’m done with these two.”

John nodded silently. When O’Neill had departed, he crossed the room, lifted the duvet from the other bed, and laid it across Elizabeth’s shivering form. “There you go, Lizbeth.”

Elizabeth smiled at him gratefully. As he finished smoothing the duvet over her, she caught his hand in hers and gently pressed her lips to his knuckles.

John felt his eyebrows rise involuntarily. Sure, they had flirted some while working together in class, and yes, they had even hugged a few times, but this was the first that either of them had done anything to indicate an interest in the other that went beyond close friendship.

Elizabeth’s voice drew him out of his wool-gathering. “John, I…I’m glad it was you who found me.”

John was taken aback by the surge of protectiveness that rose up in him at the idea that it could just as easily have been Lorne or Bates that had burst in to find her in a state of near-total undress. “Yeah, Lizbeth. I’m glad it was me, too,” he admitted, reaching down to tuck a stray hair behind Elizabeth’s ear.

Elizabeth repositioned herself on the bed and then patted the resulting open space with her hand in a silent invitation for him to sit down.

“I’m good,” John assured her.

She tilted her head slightly and gazed up at him with imploring green eyes. With an exaggerated sigh, he stepped out of his slippers and sat down on the edge of the bed. A goofy grin split Elizabeth’s face, and she once again took his hand in hers.

“You know those puppy-dog eyes won’t always get you what you want,” John told her mock-reproachfully.

Elizabeth just nestled herself closer to him, murmuring something that sounded suspiciously like “Keep telling yourself that.”

As he slipped an arm around her shoulders, John made a mental note to thank Rodney the next time they saw each other.


End file.
